Habitot was founded as a nonprofit organization by parents, teachers, and educators in 1992, and opened its first facility in downtown Berkeley in 1998. This followed six years as a traveling museum to build support for the project. In its first eight months, Habitot welcomed over 30,000 people which grew to 60,000 a year in the following two+ decades.

Habitot has an educational mission to help parents and caregivers raise curious, creative, and confident children. Creatively designed hands-on exhibits just right for young children foster learning through play and social interaction. Art and maker programs inspire their imaginations, problem solving, and confidence.

The museum also aims to welcome a broad audience which it achieves through low cost admissions and dedicated programs that welcome children with disabilities, unhoused families, foster, adoptive and kinship care families, formerly incarcerated parents, and many others.